Bharat Art

If you know Clive Road, you probably know where Sangam Palace is. We are right near there at Plot C-5. Civil Lines is a bit quieter than the rest of the city, which suits us just fine. Bharat Art has been sitting here for years, and not much has changed inside. We still have the same heavy wooden counters and the smell of old paper and ink. It’s a bit of a maze in the back where we keep the larger frames and the canvases. Sometimes I think we have too much stuff, but then someone comes in looking for a very specific type of charcoal or a certain size of mount board, and I’m glad we kept it. The walls are covered in things people have left behind or stuff we just liked the look of. It’s not a gallery, it’s a workspace. We spend a lot of time cleaning glass and making sure the corners are straight. It’s honest work. My hands are usually stained with something by the end of the day. The tea guy comes around twice a day, and that’s usually when we take a break. We see a lot of students from the local colleges coming in for supplies. They’re always in a hurry. We try to help them find what they need so they can get back to their projects. It’s a steady pace here, and we wouldn't want it any other way.